The Best Educational Open-World Games

Open-world games are the ultimate form of freedom in gaming. They involve nonlinear gaming patterns and players are not restricted to following a particular path. It allows players to achieve their goals in their own way without relying on the usual storyline. These games encourage exploration and creativity, as players are free to roam around and interact with non-playable characters (NPCs).

Open-world games can be educational for the players as well because they encourage thinking outside of the box. Linear storylines are easy to follow, while open-world games require players to use their decision-making and problem-solving to make progress. Apart from creativity, open-world games can sometimes have multiplayer modes that help the player with collaborative skills. Here are some of the most surprisingly educational open-world titles.

7 Farming Simulator 22

Master the Art of Farming

Farming Simulator 22 teaches players everything about farming, animal husbandry, and agriculture. It is set in three diverse American and European environments where players can operate real machines from big-name companies, like Fendt, John Deere, CLAAS, Case IH, and many more.

With a rich open world and a dynamic seasonal cycle, Farming Simulator 22 lets students build and manage their farm from scratch. They can choose to simply cultivate and harvest crops, raise animals, or take their farming to the next level by processing the raw crops and animal products into valuable consumables. These fun yet complex mechanics can stimulate players’ interest in the challenges and rewards of running a successful farm business.

6 Grow Up

Explore Planets And Restore Your Ship

Grow Up is an adventure open-world game and a sequel to Grow Home. B.U.D’s ship, M.O.M has been shattered and dispersed into space after collapsing with the moon. The player hence takes the role of the character to recover all the scattered components within space to restore the ship.

Grow Up includes several puzzles that help players with problem-solving skills. The character visits from one planet to another which increases the astronomical knowledge of the player. Every planet has different setups, so players get the chance to learn and compare environmental differences between planets.

5 Spore

Craft Your Species

Spore is a unique life simulator that is considered to be an excellent educational game due to its exploration of evolution, biology, and social development. This game allows players to control the development of a species, from its beginning as a microscopic organism to a social, intelligent being that can travel across the galaxy.

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The journey of moving through these stages and venturing into space and beyond helps players grasp how their decisions hold the power to influence their lives. Besides this, Spore introduces the basic concept of evolution to younger gamers and sparks interesting discussions about life and space.

4 Minecraft: Education Edition

Craft Your Imaginations

Minecraft’sEducation Edition is a separate version of Minecraft designed for educators and students alike. It takes the popular sandbox game and adds curriculum-aligned content to it with the hope of making learning fun and interactive.

Besides teaching students essential skills, like critical thinking and problem-solving, Minecraft Education Edition offers them a platform to let their creativity loose and build anything they can imagine. Additionally, there are different built-in tools for teachers to assess student understanding and progress, as well as adjust the content to meet the needs of individual students.

3 Assassin’s Creed Discovery Tour Series

Explore, Learn, Discover

• 	Assassin’s Creed Origins	Assassin’s Creed Odyssey	Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  Platform(s)	PS4, PC, Stadia, Xbox One	Switch, PS4, PC, Stadia, Xbox One	Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS5, PS4, PC, Stadia, Xbox One
  Released	2020-12-15	2018-10-15	2020-11-10
  Developer(s)	Ubisoft	Ubisoft Quebec	Ubisoft
  Genre(s)	Open-World, Action RPG	Open-World, Action RPG	Action, RPG

The Discovery Tour is a series of educational game modes for Assasin’s Creed games released between 2017 and 2020. They’re a perfect way for students, teachers, gamers, and non-gamers alike to dive into history and learn about different cultures – without the combat mechanics and hostile NPCs.

There are three different Discovery Tour modes released as DLC for Assassin’s Creed games released between 2017 to 2020, namely:

• Discovery Tour: Ancient Egypt
• Discovery Tour: Ancient Greece
• Discovery Tour: Viking Age

Players can visit these historical locations and discover interesting facts about them through the informative panels and guided tours.

2 Astroneer

Journey of an Astronaut to Colonize Planets

Astroneer is a sandbox adventure game in which the player takes the role of an astronaut named Astroneer. The character is destined to visit different planets where he creates structures to colonize it. Players travel via teleportations or spacecraft and activate the core of planets to get rewards in return.

Astroneer is a creative game that allows players to learn fundamental concepts to colonize any new planet. Players travel through different planets, which improves their spatial and astronomical knowledge. Building a new spacecraft allows the player to learn the basic engineering of spaceships and to modify them.

1 Dragon Quest Builders

Rebuild The World as You Desire

Dragon Quest Builders is an open-world genre-building game. The world has been destroyed and dominated by monsters. To rebuild the world, the players set out on a journey with the builder and gather resources that help them destroy the monsters and reconstruct the building.

Dragon Quest Builders assist in improving the creative skills of the player. Building a world improves their design skills. The infrastructural knowledge of players increases as they craft more and more objects. A limited number of items makes the player use resources carefully, and multiplayer gaming mode helps the player to develop teamwork skills.

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